Helen Weales

Very early stage 4 mockup. Isoframe with super-steel outer rails, and carbon fiber inner. Fully enclosed carbon fiber Dakar-style c*ckpit with gullwing doors (that could be unhinged from the sides in the case of a dangerous rollover). The carbon fiber c*ckpit and battery case are a part of the frame structure to save weight. I think this would probably end up being around 5,500 pounds, which means less power would be needed, and of course less battery power/smaller battery.

Thanks! It's my first render. I did make it in Blender, although I used 2.76b because none of this seemed possible in 2.49b. When I learn a bit more, maybe I'll make a tutorial. But for now if you have any specific questions, PM me and maybe I'll be able to help (I don't know much though) Speaking of the newest Blender, does anyone know if there are any OGRE/RoR tools for it? It's way nicer than 2.49b.

Stage 4 truck preview.

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(Moved this from the last SYP since no one will likely see it) Stage 4 electric BIGFOOT, design #001:

Moved to SYP 52.

I agree 100%, he has no concept of any copyright law. I was just looking at it from his point of view, how his scans and website were probably done during a time period when it took 15 minutes to scan one photo, another 30 to upload it online, and how he probably became frustrated when he would come across other sites using his scans. And like I mentioned about fan sites of any type always being shut down back in the 90s/early 00s, what he did was kind of common practice, but for different reasons -- Dennis doesn't actually own his images but thought/thinks he does because of the amount of time and effort put into the site. I suppose he means well. Regardless, I'm glad his site exists. Dennis runs the Monster Truck Photo Album site.

Sorry to take this further off topic, but I think people must realize Dennis Taft is from a different era when making such a site (or any website in general) was a HUGE pain in the ass, and in the 90s people were way more protective of content (for instance I remember when fan sites of any type would be taken down left and right). Obviously the internet is completely different now but he hasn't changed with the times. Having been there and done that, in a way I can understand why he is so protective of the images on his site, even if he has no understanding of the law. Also, when he made that site, there were no such things as tabs to drag and drop images in. Haha.

Good point. Do the rules require lexan for the front cutout if a driver wears the visor down on the helmet? Also seems like it would look better with a satin or matte clear coat.

That looked rough. Do they actually run General Tires, or are they rebranded?

Extremely rough idea for my stage 4 electric race trucks. It has a symmetrical lower frame/dual motor/gearbox, and independent cantilever suspension. The frame (obviously very structurally incomplete atm) would be made of a new type of "super-steel" alloy developed in South Korea that I recently read about. Apparently it is stronger than titanium, is 10 times cheaper, has the lightness of aluminum, and is already being tested for use in the automotive and aerospace industries. A "Super-Steel Isoframe" is what I'm calling it. I'd like for it to have some sort of carbon fiber roosterpit/battery holder that fits in the frame, like a Dakar Rally car. I want to go all out with these. Edit: lol @ roosterpit

Soon enough it will be like that throughout the states. But mufflers *can* look and sound cool when they are not an afterthought. Look at the older BF trucks that ran them. Those trucks also sounded mega evil and fast.

Are you sure about that? "In a (tubular) spaceframe chassis, the suspension, engine, and body panels are attached to a three-dimensional skeletal frame of tubes, and the body panels have little or no structural function. In order to maximise rigidity and minimise weight, the design makes maximum use of triangles, and all the forces in each strut are either tensile or compressive, never bending, so they can be kept as thin as possible." That seems to precisely explain a standard MT tube frame, no? Look at this VW Dakar rally spaceframe -- Looks like a MT frame, except made of higher-grade steel and can accommodate many more features: Also, NASCAR use spaceframes and they are similar as well.

Thanks. That is interesting, I was actually wondering why it was designed this way the entire time I was building it. Something else I wonder -- why didn't they call these "space frames" instead of "tube frames"? Sounds much cooler, and after all, isn't that what they are technically? Imagine Mike Galloway introducing the "all-new computer-designed spaceframe BIGFOOT 8 monster truck! Watch out!".

I started making frames and bodies for BIGFOOT 8/9 (thanks to @Outlawed for a frame to work off of, and lots of reference photos). This is the original frame for #8, it's mostly complete. It is similar to #9 with a few differences. Overall they are quirky frames but given they were the first of the their kind it's not surprising. Curved top rails, asymmetrical rollcages, odd lower hoop for the front cantilevers (for #8 only) etc. Never really noticed some of their oddities until I studied them today. I had some fun with the 4-link tabs and added "welds", which I think should look nice in RoR (not sure if I've seen this done before).

No, completely different beasts (although worked equally well). BF 8 was technically designed first (began in 1987, I think Taurus began in 1988). Basically, mostly every modern frame used is based off of Bob Chandler's design (like the one in the photo), with shock setups based on BF 14. BF 8/9's frame (and maybe others) were built by Dan Patrick, who then modified the design for his own company, PEI; then came everything else you see today (a lot who ignore BIGFOOT's existence )... BF 8 test from 88/89: Edit: Difference between 8 and all other BF's main frames:

The 8th gen had the same cab and bed, so only a nose modification would be needed (although personally I think this 9th gen body needs a complete overhaul, but could be a good base). I think I'm going to attempt to make the body today (can't stop thinking about doing it). The biggest detail I that no one seems to get right with BF trucks are the wheel wells -- they had very specifically shaped wells, so this is important and I think I can pull it off. Making a frame from scratch wouldn't be necessary, but BF 8 & 9 had a lot of small details that other trucks did not have because of the suspension setups (especially when they had front and rear cantilevers), so some things would need to be added, especially for BF 8's front cantilevers. Luckily there are some greatly detailed photos of these trucks without the bodies. Areas that I would be concerned about are the motor, axles and other things like fuel cells, batteries etc -- these things are not my expertise at all and I fear I would end up getting a lot of it wrong/leaving out details. Is there already a Ford motor model that could be used? Basically, I would be up for this if I had help with everything minus the body, frame, shocks, driver and paint. I can probably model/texture anything else as well, but I would want someone else to confirm that parts are accurate, or send them to be finished. The node/beam is also an issue as I am not experienced enough to do this, only fine-tune the handling. Also, these trucks ran mufflers and had a very specific motor sound (a personal favorite of mine) -- is there a muffler sound pack by any chance? Sorry, maybe this should be in another thread.

+1 on more BIGFOOT trucks in this community. I've never understood the lack of them here (or at least accurate replicas) considering its historical importance, and the amount of beautiful trucks from their past. For example, the stance and suspension movement on BIGFOOT 9 would be an incredible sight in RoR... If i weren't knee-deep in other projects I would definitely start by tackling this, the first few versions of 8, and Wildfoot.

lol... Is the dump truck really named "Dump Truck"? Also, what was the "big news"?

Also, you should try installing the Xbox 360 driver. Seems like it should fix the issue where you have to switch USB ports. "Open Device Manager, right click on your unknown F710 device, Update Driver, "Browse my computer, "Let me select from a list", find Xbox 360 Controllers on the list, and select "Xbox 360 Controller for Windows" and then "Use driver anyway" if you get a warning"

That used to work for me as well, but it got to the point where it would sometimes stop working in-game. Strangely enough, this controller did work until I disabled it in Device Manager... Now my Surface tablet won't even detect it (although I don't know if it did before and I am running a preview version of W10 on it which isn't the most stable release). I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with the controller rather than a software issue. Regardless, I'd like to know how to force Windows to detect a device.

(Apologies if this is in the wrong section.) I use a Logitech F310 controller with RoR, running Windows 10. Lately the controller is sometimes not detected by Windows and I get a "USB device not recognized" pop-up in the taskbar, and it shows up as an unknown device in Device Manager. Usually restarting fixes this, but this can be an annoying solution. I did some research and found out that people are having this same issues with other Logitech controllers as well, so I decided to try to permanently fix this. The fix seems to be going to Device Manager and manually installing a Xbox 360 driver for the controller (Logitech doesn't make a driver because it should be PnP). Somewhere along this process I right-clicked on it in Device Manager and clicked "Uninstall", thinking when I plugged the controller in it would reappear in the list... It never did and I cannot get my computer to detect it again. I have even scanned for hardware changes but it still won't detect it. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can force Windows to recognize it again so I can install the Xbox driver?

Sort of a dreamy look (via Sketchup) of progress of the Dakar Rally-inspired track (or at least it started out that way). Most of the modeling is done and will now be imported to Blender and textured.

I assume you mean the terrain? I used the Sandbox tools in Sketchup, but I also tried the sculpt tool in Blender and got similar results. I need to spend more time with both, but it seems like Sketchup allows for more control while using less verts. Most likely I'll continue to use Sketchup and finish it in Blender (sizing, refining bumps, texturing, and exporting), which is typically my method for creating RoR content.

I've been working on a Dakar Rally-inspired track which will have some geometrical sculptures to race around. I haven't done much terrain sculpting before, so I'm trying new things. This is only the first prototype (and a very early one at that), so it is likely to change.